Maine Mall GM: Don't read too much into closing of anchor store

7/10/2017

The general manager at the Maine Mall said it was possible the regional shopping center would look to other uses besides an anchor-type store.WGME13 reported that Craig Gorris indicated that online shopping has changed the way malls do business, but it’s a mistake to predict the demise of the regional mall.“Our research indicates last year, 11% of all retail transactions were non-store, so they occurred online. Now, if you look back 20 years ago, about that same percentage occurred through the catalog,” Gorris told WGME (CBS13).Bon-Ton Stores Inc. announced June 13 that it would close the 120,000-square-foot store at the Maine Mall by the end of August, which will eliminate 55 jobs.Gorris did not speculate on how the Bon-Ton space might be reused.Nationwide, mall owners have diverted from the anchor concept, in some cases dividing space for smaller retailers and in others by adding non-retail tenants, like health care clinics, houses of worship and even a college.“The mall is not dead, just changing,” Marshall Cohen, chief industry analyst for retail at NPD Group, told RetailDive.